Rail-tie



G. H. BA'RBOUH.

mmm.

APPLICATION FILED APR 4,1916

1,348,344. i' Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

joint thereon in cross-section.,

GEORGEH. BABBOUR, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA,

, BAIL-TIE.

' I r i Application led April 4,

To all whom it may concern.'

Beit known that I, GEORGE H. BARBOUR,

a citizen ofthe United States residing at Pittsburgh, in the county ofAllegheny and vState offennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Rail-Ties, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a viewfshowing one of my improved tiesin elevation and atrack rail and y Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

TheV precise nature of my invention will be Abest understood byreference to the accompanying drawings which will now be described, itbeing premised, however, that various changes may be made in the shapesof the members or sections, without departing from the spirit and scopeof my invention, as defined in the appended claims. j

In the drawing I have illustrated one form of tie embodying myinvention, and which will now be described, it being premised, however,that the invention is susceptible of other embodiments.

In this drawing, the tie is shown as con# sisting of a central webportion 9 which is bent upwardly at each edge to form longitudinalridges having the reversely sloping. surfaces 10, and which terminate inthe horizontal edge portions 12. At the apex of each of the ribs 10 isan up-standing fiange 11 whose upper portion is brent horizontally toform the'rail-bearing member 12a. The portions 12 and 12a are preferablythicker than the other portions of the tie.

The portions 11 of the upper flanges ex' tend at right angles to theportions 12 there- Y of, while the similar portions 11 of the lower Yflanges extend at an acute angle to the portions 12 of their respectiveflanges, so as to form braces for the lower portions of the ties. Owingto their double seats and fastenings for the rails, together with thevincreased bearing on the ballast, fewer of these ties are necessary fora given length of track than of the present types of ties.

By reason ofthe relatively large ballastbearing area of my improved tie,it is possible to reduce very considerably the depth of the ballastemployed, as compared with v the standard depth now generally in use andwhich is determined by well known rules, depending mainly upon the widthbetween Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedAug. 3, 1920. 191e. seriai No. 88,817. Y y

the ballast-bearing faces of the ties. This not only reduces the amountof ballast material required, butv the effect of reducing the ballastdepth is also to lessen very materially the subsidence under the actionof wheel loads on the rails. It has beenV determined that the amount ofsubsidence, which is the main cause of temporary depressions or vweavinglaction of the rails under loads,

varies directly as the depth of the ballast, other conditions beingequal. That is to say, thegreater the ballast depth, the greater thesubsidence. While the cushioning action of the compressible ballast andsubgrade is highly advantageous despite the resulting deflections of therails, excessive subsidence is dangerous and its reduction is of greatimportance. Owing to the relatively shallow vertical section of myimproved ties, it is possible to obtain a much closer spacing betweenthe longitudinal edges of the base flanges of adjacent ties withoutimpairing the tamping an le. In fact, with my improved tie and with anygiven spacing between adjacent edges of the ties, the effective tampinangle is greatly increased and it is there y possible to get the tampingimplement farther under the ties. I have also shown a preferred way ofsupporting a rail joint and rails on my improved tie. 14 designatestrack-rails; 15 are fish-plates secured to opposite sides of the rails,16 are hollow rivets which secure the parts together, and 17 designatesinsulaf tion such as may be employed in forming an insulated joint. Therails may be secured tothe ties by means of clips 13 riveted to theflanges 11 and engaging the rail base.

I claim:

1. A metallic rail-tie, comprising a base 4portion having upwardly bentportions which carry spaced apart up-standing flanges, whose upperportions are bent into substantially horizontal position to formrail-bearing members, said base portion having members which extendlater-ally beyond Y said flanges to provide increased ballastbearingsurface, substantially as described.

bearing surface, said last-named members being of thickened metal,substantially as described.

3. A metallic rail-tie, comprising a base v Y bearing surface, saidrail-bearing members being of thickened. metal, substantially asdescribed.

; 4. A metallic. rail-tie, comprising a base portion formed with spacedapart up-stand#V ing flanges, Whose upper portions are bent. intosubstantially horizontal position to form rail-bearing members, saidbase portion having members which extend laterally beyond said flangesto provide increased ballast-bearing surface, said 'base 'havingAupwardly bent portions which carry said up-` standingflanges,substantially as described.

5.' A metallic rail-tie, comprising a'base portion having upwardly bentportions which carry spaced-apart upstanding 'Hanges Whose upperportions are bent intosubstantially horizontal position to form`rail-bearing members, said base portionV having members which extend.laterally beyond said flanges to provide'increased ballast-bearingsurface,` at least one.V of said horizontally bent portions beingvthickened,. substantially as described. t' In testimony AwhereofIliavehereunto'set my hand. z A

GEORGE H. BARBOUB.V .Y Witnesses: z l

GEO. B. BLEMING, v JESSE B. HELLER.

